Surprise!

After bearing the last class of the day, Shreya packed her bags and started walking out of the college. Her thoughts comprising of the surprise awaiting her.

Was it related to today’s text, or was it something entirely different?

Was he going to take her out on a date? They hadn’t been out much.

Or maybe he was going to gift her something?

Whatever it may be, it was from Vansh and that was enough to excite her.

Maybe it was just a flower, but coming from him it’d mean the world to her. Just the thought that he thought to plan something for her was enough to gather butterflies in her stomach and bring a ridiculous smile on her face.

She kept thinking of various things he could do to surprise her, from flowers to paintings and a dinner date to an extravagant night out, all ending in his arms – sweaty and satiated.

A voice called her name and she turned around to smile at Harsha with a love-struck look on her face. She tried washing it away but her eyes still twinkled, she was so close to unrevealing her surprise, she could almost feel the after-effects.

“You wanna go to a movie?”, asked Harsha.

“Um…I would love to but I have something planned already”, she said, biting her lower lip apologetically.

“No problem. We are going at 7, so if your plans change or something, you are free to join”, Harsha shrugged.

“Yeah, thanks. See you later”, she smiled and walked away with a jump in her step. Her thoughts returning to him, a silly smile got plastered on her face. She texted him that she was on her way, and grabbed the helmet from her bike.

“What could be the surprise?”, she asked herself the whole ride. When she reached the office, she took a deep breath and tried to compose herself. She didn’t want to look too excited for the surprise; she wanted to look cool like she hadn’t given it a second thought.

Successfully composing her expressions, that is faking her giddiness to look like neutral happiness; she walked into the building and climbed the steps to take her to him.

She took another breath, shook her head a little and knocked on the door. She wanted to dress up, look better than the tired mess she looked right now, with her hair strands running lose and her face down. But that would mean that she thought twice about the surprise and cared about it a lot and she wasn’t about to portray herself as desperate or needy for attention, though that was exactly what she was.

Also, if she went home, there was no way her mom would allow her back out. She didn’t want to take the risk so thought looking like an unbothered mess was the way go.

The door opened and she smiled as she looked into his eyes.

Was it possible to like him more than she did this morning? He seemed to be heaven to her eyes. Or was it just the anticipation of the surprise that made her heart fonder of him?

She didn’t know nor did she have the patience to try and decipher its meaning. Vansh was in front of him and all she wanted to do was be held tight in his arms and feel his lips moving against hers.

“Hey”, she breathed out. She didn’t even realize her breathing had gotten heavier.

“Hello! Are you ready for the surprise?”, he asked cheerfully, still standing on the door.

“Yes but I don’t need to close my eyes or anything right?”

He placed a hand over her eyes and wrapping a hand around her shoulders pulled her inside. She heard the bang of the door closing and her excitement increased.

“What could it be?”, she thought as she closed her eyes tight and held her palms together.

“Surprise”, he shouted as he dropped his hands from her eyes.

In front of her stood a stunning model who could very well be an icon for zero figure. She had black almond eyes with straight brown hair and small pink lips. Tall as she was, she had long legs and a waist so small, Shreya wondered if the girl ever ate.

Even dressed in casual jeans and tee, almost the same as her, she looked like she could walk the ramp right now and still have all eyes on her.

In short, she looked breath-taking.

Meet a very important and integral part of my life, my childhood best friend, Shanaya”, introduced Vansh with a huge grin on his face that widened when he met Shanaya’s smile.

“She was out travelling in Europe for the past year and I missed her so much, but this morning I got a call from her and surprise, surprise, she was here. She didn’t even tell me she was coming, sneaky girl”, he said to Shreya, but his eyes kept travelling back to his best friend.

“Hello”, Shreya greeted with a smile and then added, “You look beautiful”

“Hey, thank you”, said Shanaya in a voice so soft and melodious, she could hear her for days without getting irritated. She suddenly felt insecure about her screechy, shouty voice and made a mental note to gargle with hot water tonight.

Shanaya smile and Shreya instantly closed her mouth. Her smile seemed to lighten and brighten the room and her teeth were aligned so perfectly, her rabbit teeth seemed crooked and bad, not cute. Not cute at all.

She talked herself out of her insecurities and degrading thoughts, telling herself she had all the time in the world at night to think and cry about it, but she couldn’t cry now. Her eyes were, either way, no match to hers, if she started crying Vansh would see the best choice clearly and dump her before she could say, ‘No’

She thought of the good things. Shanaya seemed warm and good-hearted, and she was Vansh’s childhood friend, imagine the things she could find from her. Also, he thought she was important enough to meet Shanaya; that is a good thing, a very good thing.

“So V, you told me you’d tell me how you two met when she came here, tell me now”, said Shanaya as she sat down and the two of them followed suit. You know how when we listen to some beautiful songs we get lost in their voice and only later do we realize its meaning? That’s exactly what happened to her. By the time she realized what she had asked, Vansh already started speaking.

She stared at his face, begging him to not tell her anything through her eyes. She didn’t want anyone to know how they met, especially not her. Shanaya was important in Vansh’s life and there was no way she’d listen and not want Vansh to throw her away right this moment.

A girl who invited a man who was recording her without consent? Please, get a girl with higher morals, she would say and he would listen. She was sure.

A part of her was also ashamed of how they met and she didn’t want her embarrassment to be shared with anyone. She already felt low enough; she didn’t want to feel like a complete crap next to her.

But Vansh never noticed.

All her staring got flushed in the drain because he didn’t look at her once. He didn’t meet her eye even once. Though it was their story he was telling, all of his focus was on Shanaya and Shanaya only.

She understood that Shanaya was back after a long time but was expecting at least a glance so wrong? Was she being clingy? She shook her thoughts away again, deciding to think on them later at night.

By the time he finished, her cheeks reddened with embarrassment and to her relief, Shanaya didn’t advice Vansh against dating her but simply laughed at the story and said, “how cute” which somehow sounded derogatory to Shreya’s ears, but she reduced it to her insecurities.

Her head was shouting too loud, she couldn’t judge its judgement right now, she thought to herself.

When Vansh told her of a surprise, she thought of all sorts of things in her mind, from possible to impossible, from fairytale to reality, but in everything, in every scenario she felt happy.
She thought that is what surprises are supposed to feel like - excitement and joy.

Not once did she imagine, a beautiful woman could be a surprise. Not once did she doubt that a surprise from Vansh could be bad. Not once did she think that in a surprise that was for 'her', she wouldn't even be glanced at.

She didn't think a surprise from Vansh could make her feel shit, maybe she was just 'the shit'